The groupware project Tine 2.0 will appear at the Berlin LinuxTag 2009 with a beta version of its 2009-06 release, code-named Leonie, that includes mail and calendar components.

The first release candidates for Leonie should start showing up after LinuxTag. Project member Cornelius Weiss expects the final release around the beginning of July, depending on how many bugs the community finds in the beta.

The calendar provides drag-and-drop and opens event windows with a mouse click, more like functions you'd see in native desktop applications. "Our test users tend to forget that it's a Web application," said Weiss. Tine 2.0 can also integrate static content such as graphics, stylesheets and JavaScript with the help of Google Gears, which improves performance, since browser and server just need to exchange the mutable data. Caching for the purpose is planned for a future release, as the project doesn't want to depend too heavily on Google products on an ongoing basis.

The Leonie release with mail and calendar gives Tine 2.0 its first steps to completeness. Cornelius Weiss: "With it, we've done some groupware that no one else can offer, and that completely as open source under AGPLv3. Unlike other providers, we also offer connectivity for mobile devices under a free license." Further development should occupy itself with ERP and CRM followup features.

Tine 2.0 developers had split off their project from the eGroupWare collaboration software project the beginning of 2008. The development effort is largely carried by the Metaways Infosystems firm in Hamburg, Germany.

The Tine 2.0 project will be at LinuxTag 2009 in Hall 7.2A, Booth 102A, from June 24 through 27 in Berlin.